Today, robots are being used to perform or assist in many tasks that previously were performed by human beings. In some instances, robots are better suited for certain tasks than humans due to their precision in movement and control and their highly customizable designs and operation modes. Some suitable tasks for remotely controlled robots include tasks in hazardous environments, such as natural disaster areas, toxic environment, virus or radiation contaminated environment, etc. In some examples, tasks that are highly repetitive and tedious, and/or physically strenuous tasks, such as performing household chores, organizing warehouse inventories, routine care and assistance to the disabled and/or elderly, etc., can benefit greatly from robotic assistance.
Although teleoperation and complete automation are two modes of robotic control that are widely used today, the kinds of tasks that can be performed using these two modes of control are limited. For example, with teleoperation, a human operator precisely controls every move of the robot by performing a corresponding control movement in real-time while watching a streaming video of the scene in which the robot is operating. The teleoperation mode of control requires a highly skilled human operator to be fully engaged (e.g., physically and mentally) in real-time throughout performance of a task, which severely limits its usefulness and applications (e.g., due to the burdens and requirements placed on the human operators). The full automation mode of control requires artificial intelligence to be built into the robot control programs, which cannot adapt to highly varied operation scenarios and limits its usefulness and applications.
In a mixed-initiative robotic control mode, a human operator provides high-level task-oriented instructions, and relies on the robot's pre-programming to determine the exact movement and operations to be performed to achieve the high-level instructions. Mixed-initiative robotic control alleviates some burdens and requirements placed on the human operators, and takes advantage of the robot's capabilities in terms of precision, stamina, robustness, and relative immunity to hazards.
It is challenging to provide an intuitive and efficient human-machine interface that facilitates remote mixed-initiative robotic control. Good techniques for supporting indirect and/or intermittent intervention in a robot's operation (e.g., navigation and/or object manipulation) in real-time over a network are in great need.